Spin-flip inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy in atomic chains
Abstract
We present a theoretical study of the spin transport properties of mono-atomic magnetic chains with a focus on the spectroscopical features of the I-V curve associated to spin-flip processes. Our calculations are based on the s-d model for magnetism with the electron transport treated at the level of the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. Inelastic spin-flip scattering processes are introduced perturbatively via the first Born approximation and an expression for the associated self-energy is derived. The computational method is then applied to describe the I-V characteristics and its derivatives of one dimensional chains of Mn atoms and the results are then compared to available experimental data. We find a qualitative and quantitative agreement between the calculated and the experimental conductance spectra. Significantly we are able to describe the relative intensities of the spin excitation features in the I-V curve, by means of a careful analysis of the spin transition selection rules associated to the atomic chains.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1103.2652,
title = {Spin-flip inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy in atomic chains},
author = {Aaron Hurley and Nadjib Baadji and Stefano Sanvito},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.2652},
year = {2015}
}